When developing a computer software program, debugging of the program code is often difficult and time consuming. Debugging is often performed in the following manner: finding a program part which causes problems, finding relevant lines of the program code, setting breakpoints in places in the program code which are of interest regarding the status of certain variables, and executing the program code with a debugging software (“debugger”). When executing the debugger, a run-time environment of the program developing environment starts executing the program code, stops its execution at the first breakpoint in the order of the execution, and usually displays the content of the variables for analysis. In order to run the debugger, a failure in the program code (bug) does not need to be present. Also, the debugger may be used to only show the content of certain variables.
The aforementioned procedure has certain disadvantages. The performance of the first three steps mentioned above may require a considerable amount of work if the debugging has to be frequently repeated. Program developers and coworkers, who have to maintain the program, need a good understanding of the total program code, although only part of the code might be interesting for the debugging purpose. Another disadvantage is that the breakpoints are automatically deleted when closing the program. Therefore, when starting the debugging software in a new session, the breakpoints have to be set again.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for debugging methods and/or systems that provide a more efficient solution to one or more of the problems described above.